Youtube videos for teens and younger that are "Lost in Translation"

June 6, 2024 8:59 AM

I am working on an information literacy presentation for K-12 students and in it I want to include some youtube clips that include vocabulary, situations, or otherwise that might be lost in translation.

So, this is a little hard to explain perhaps, but I am putting together a presentation for teachers, librarians, adults who work with kids on information literacy topics. I want to specifically show examples of vocabulary, situations, etc that might be 'lost in translation' for kids when they watch youtubers who are based in different countries. This presentation is for USA based individuals mostly so you can assume that as the understood context.

I know that kids struggle with ALL kinds of context, so I would like to restrict this to specific details that are
A) culturally based (such as a youtuber from England referring to 'chips' or 'biscuits')
B) somewhat easily explained (if the explanation takes more than 1 minute or requires a lecture of global politics, that is not what I need currently).
C) Videos that are geared towards kids & teens. I know that is not all they watch, but that is what I want to stick with.

Thank you in advance, I've watched way too much youtube with my kids currently and haven't quite found what I am looking for yet.

posted by aetg to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Well, I thought of Australia first since the language is the same but the vocabulary is slightly different. Also their situations are different due to economy, geography, industries, etc. A couple of short videos I found were this one and this one.
posted by forthright at 9:55 AM on June 6

Do you want people directly explaining these differences? For example, this video on Asian family expectations. (although perhaps one that doesn't require bleeping).
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:11 AM on June 6

There is this clip from an English children's cartoon that got the entire episode banned with prejudice in Australia.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:31 AM on June 6 [2 favorites]

This clip from I Love Lucy still makes me laugh and hits home about the vagaries of English spelling versus pronunciation (such as the difference between "rough", "cough", "through", etc, even though [another one!] they're all spelled the same).
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:11 PM on June 6

Lost in the Pond( youtube) may have a few videos that meet your needs. He's a Brittish guy who now lives outside of Chicago and talks about his experiences, vocabulary and other things.
posted by AlexiaSky at 2:40 PM on June 6

The two Ronnie's four candles/fork handles sketch?
posted by freethefeet at 2:43 PM on June 6

The Forking Tomatos do a lot of these, especially of the "we all speak English but still use very different words for the same thing" variety.
posted by creatrixtiara at 7:58 PM on June 6

Purely one culture, but the classic British skit is four candles.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 9:00 PM on June 6

If 5 minutes isn't too long, Some of Tom Scott's linguistics videos could be a good fit. Examples: No Problem or Sentences Humans Understand but Computers Don't
posted by Gable Oak at 4:58 AM on June 9